Morrison Hotel/ Hard Rock Café By Charlie Fish Photograph by Henry Diltz Downtown LA, CA 1969 To say Jim Morrison and The Doors had already tasted success and fame by the time they released Morrison Hotel is an understatement. They‟d already been banned from the Ed Sullivan Show after Morrison refused to change drugreferencing lyrics from “Light My Fire.” Morrison‟s alcoholism was already a known source of trouble for the poet songwriter, and by many accounts he can be heard hiccupping on a track (“Five to One”) from Waiting for the Sun. Then there was the alleged indecent exposure incident in Miami, wherein, after trying to incite a riot amongst the concert-goers, Morrison is said to have shown his penis to the crowd. Yes, The Doors had achieved fame (as well as billboard topping singles and albums) before releasing Morrison Hotel/ Hard Rock Café in 1970. Having been around for five years, The Doors were as famous for their psychedelic/acid/bluesrock sound as Jim Morrison was for his reputation of being unpredictable and unruly on stage. Leather-clad and seductive, the “Lizard King” was proclaimed to be the prototypical rock star. It would be two more years before his body was found in a bathtub in Paris. As no autopsy was performed, speculation still remains as to what killed the poet with the baritone voice; the most common guess being a heroin overdose (reported by then girlfriend Pamela Courson). But in 1969, the four band members were gearing up to release their follow up to The Soft Parade, the band‟s most commercial album to date (much to the chagrin of fans and critics). Their fifth studio album was meant to be a return to form, with a raw, stripped down blues sound. Stand out tracks from the record included “Roadhouse Blues,” “Peace Frog,” and “Indian Summer.” Henry Diltz, meanwhile, was known in the music industry both as a musician and a photographer. His long list of friends/photography-subjects included Crosby, Stills and Nash, Mama Cass, and Neil Young. When Diltz was approached to photograph The Doors (both for their album cover and promotional shots), the musician spent a good amount of time with the band. Armed with a Nikon film camera and a gifted eye, the resulting photographs became one of the most highly recognizable album covers in rock „n‟ roll history. Not to mention, they also helped spawned a giant restaurant chain. Resource caught up with the still prominent photographer-turned-art gallery founder to hear his side of the story, including what Jim Morrison was really like. His impression of the wild child: “He was bemused.”
On knowing Jim Morrison: It was a small enough group of people in the industry in LA that we all sort of knew each other. I knew him as a musician, and I would see him around town. His girlfriend had a clothing store and I would see him there sometimes. We were aware of each other. This album cover was the first time we spent a couple of days together. And then about a week later they needed publicity pictures so we went out to the beach with The Doors and we spent the afternoon walking around Venice Beach. On the Idea: Bill Siddons (The Doors‟ manager) called and wanted Gary [Burden, art director] and I to come to their office in Hollywood. Jim [Morrison] and Ray [Manzarek] were there. They said, “Hey, we want you to do our album cover.” And we said, “OK, do you have a title?” “No, we don‟t,” they said. “Do you have any ideas,” we asked. And Ray said, “You know, my wife and I were driving in downtown LA and we saw this old hotel that said „Morrison Hotel‟ on the window.” That very day we went down there to check the place out. We just went with Jim and Ray at first. Then we went back another day with the whole group to shoot. On the Morrison Hotel shot: We shot a few pictures outside of the hotel. When we went inside, we told the guy behind the desk, “We‟re just gonna be over there shooting pictures.” And he said, “No. You can‟t do that; you gotta get the owner‟s permission.” But the owner wasn‟t around anywhere. We went back outside and I thought, „Well, I‟ll have them stand in front of the window. They can‟t stop us; we‟re on the sidewalk.‟ Just as I was looking in the window, I see the light above the elevator light up, and I noticed that the guy has left the desk, got in the elevator and the lobby was empty. So I said to the band, “Quick! Run in there!” They ran in and they all got in their places. They just fell into those positions. I took one roll of film; 36 exposures. I started up close at first to get an angle, and then I started shooting from the side so I could get the name and [the band]. Gary then said, “Back up, back up! Get the whole window.” In one shot, a pizza guy walked by in front of the window. I love the outtakes. Gary had a really good knack for looking at all these [shots] and in his mind he could pick out the one that was the image.
On the Hard Rock Café: We‟d just finished taking the [Morrison Hotel] photo, it was maybe 3 o‟clock and Jim said, “Let‟s go get a drink.” So we went a few blocks away to what they
called Skid Row, where it was all bars and pawnshops, and we drove down the street looking for a bar and someone said, “Hey look, Hard Rock Café.” Some guy told me later that he walked by this place in the 30s as a little boy and it was there then in the 30s. So it didn‟t mean rock „n‟ roll, it meant mining, or something else. That image we took at the bar came out on the back of the Morrison Hotel cover. The Doors got a call soon after from England, asking, “Would you mind if we use that name on the back of your album, we‟re starting a café here in London?” And they said, “Yeah, sure. Go ahead.” And that was the start of the Hard Rock Café empire. On Jim’s bar behavior: We went into the bar and had a beer and started talking to the local guys. Jim really liked to hear them talk about their life story because he was a writer and a poet and he was very interested in hearing people. I always use the word “bemused.” Jim was bemused. He was quiet; as an observer and a poet, he would drink it all in. On Jim Morrison’s demeanor: He didn‟t come off aggressively; he was quiet and observant and thoughtful. He was on a quest to learn about life, the deeper inside of things and the underside. He was always listening rather than taking the lead. (The first time they played in public, he turned his back to the audience.) I think he was a searcher. He was concerned with those questions of life. He was sullen sometimes; very internal. On the Music: They were a very arty group. I was a bigger fan of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. I was more folk driven; The Doors were more jazz classical. And when they played that electric keyboard, to me it sounded like circus music. And I saw Jim play at the places that I played, the Whisky a Go-Go and the Hollywood Bowl. And he didn‟t have screaming girls around. It wasn‟t like that; it wasn‟t like the movie. On being a musician and a photographer: Being a musician first made me know how to hang out because musicians hang out all the time. There‟s a lot of downtime: traveling or backstage or rehearsing or whatever. And then they work for an hour or two in the evening. They way I took pictures would be just hanging out, because that‟s what I did! I had my camera with me, though. People didn‟t see me as a photographer „cause I wasn‟t there to do a photo shoot. I was just hanging out with my friends, shooting everybody. And then people started paying me for it, which was great „cause I was using all my musician money to buy film and processing. On recognition: I‟ll be hanging out with younger people and they‟ll ask me who I‟ve photographed. And I‟ll say Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Jackson
Browne, Joni Mitchell. And they‟ll go, “Yeah, yeah.” Then I‟ll say, “And The Doors‟ Morrison Hotel.” And they‟ll go, “Duuuuude! Duuuude! You shot the Morrison Hotel?” Though it wasn‟t my favorite album, it‟s become their bestknown album cover. On the remains of the Morrison Hotel, 1246 South Hope Street This hotel was a derelict hotel for transients. Rooms were $2.50, and even in those days that said a lot. A couple years after this picture was taken the window was gone and it was a Laundromat. Then 10 years after that the Laundromat was gone and this became a sort of quickie mart, a little corner stand. There was a slum lord that owned the hotel in the end, and all the renters complained and there was a big thing with the city council „cause there were rats, roaches, running sewage and all kinds of horrible [conditions]. It finally got closed down. It‟s all boarded up now. A few people have thought about buying it and having the Morrison Hotel. And you could. That area is all becoming refurbished. It‟s right by the Staples Center and the [Los Angeles] Convention Center. I talked to a couple of people that were interested in buying it. You could have a Morris on Hotel chain, if you got lucky. I think they want 14 million for it. On the original Hard Rock Café, Corner of East 6th and Wall St. One time we went down there to try to find it and we couldn‟t exactly remember what block it was on. I finally decided it was a vacant lot. “That‟s where it was,” I said. Then some time later a guy told me, “No my parents owned that place, the Hard Rock Café; it‟s still there.” It‟s empty and boarded up now. But it‟s in a horrible area.
The Morrison Hotel Gallery (in NY and CA) is home to some 50 photographers‟ various rock „n‟ roll imagery. California Dreaming, Diltz‟ new book, is out now.